Funky Forest: The First Contact

Ishii, Ishimine & Miki, Japan, 2005, 150 Minutes, English Subtitles

Toronto Premiere

With elements of science fiction, traditional Japanese stand up, animation, recurrent characters such as the Guitar Brother and the Babbling Hotspring Vixens, an anime directing dog, anal probes, and a chubby white kid inexplicably cast as Asano and Terajima's younger brother Funky Forest is completely unpredictable and shows every sign of having been created while under the influence of a great many recreational pharmaceuticals.

Hailed as a religious experience at the recently concluded New York Asian Film Festival Japanese anthology film Naisu No Mori (Funky Forest: The First Contact) had its origins in - of all things - a series of canned coffee ads by acclaimed, and very surreal, film maker Katsuhito Ishii starring cult icons Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer) and Susumu Terajima (Sonatine). In love with his two characters but recognizing that he couldn't possibly spin them out into any sort of conventional feature film director Ishii - best known on these shores for his animation work on Tarantino's Kill Bill - Ishii recruited the help of directors Aniki (Hajime Ishimine) and Shinichiro Miki to create what is best described as surreal experimental sketch comedy. - Todd Brown